Media Headliner: Commercial radio has a champion in Chalmers

The fact that Ed Chalmers, Global Radio's sales director, is barely
distinguishable in the group photo that accompanied his team's entry to
the Cross-Media Sales Team of the Year category in the Campaign Media
Awards seems entirely appropriate.

Despite leading a 60-strong sales team that won the gong and was praised
for unifying radio, web and mobile at last week's awards, the diminutive
Scotsman has a remarkably low profile.

Chalmers' relative anonymity may have something to do with the three big
names in the pecking order above him - with the commercial director,
Mike Gordon, the chief executive, Stephen Miron, and the Global Group
chief executive, Ashley Tabor, the station already has its share of
company spokesmen.

Nonetheless, Chalmers, with his 17 years' experience in radio sales, has
made a deep impression among the media buying community. "He's a
horrible little ginger Scottish git," the Starcom MediaVest Group
trading director, Chris Locke, says. "Which is a term of endearment.
He's good for Global and he's good for radio. He is the clever one in
that business."

Marmite-like by reputation, he has also acquired the moniker "Ed
Charmless" for apparently possessing a blunt and aggressive demeanour.
That said, he is respected for being a good operator and a passionate
believer in radio and seems to be rather more liked than hated.

This belief in radio translated into success on the podium last week and
Chalmers credits this to the work that he and his team has done in
engaging agencies. "We're very clear about our strategy,"

he says. "We're a music and entertainment business with 180 different
touchpoints; particularly our own content and live events, but also
promotions, sponsorship and spot ads."

It's a remarkable transformation for a company that was formed out of
the ashes of Chrysalis and GCap Media. Global Radio has only existed for
two years and is led by the 33-year-old Tabor. With the help of his
father and his associates, Tabor bought Chrysalis, the owner of the
Heart, Galaxy and LBC brands, in 2007 and GCap Media, the owner of
Classic FM, XFM and the One Network (now branded as Heart), in October
2008.

Since the acquisition, it has tried to present an external image as a
company comprised of people who are obsessed with radio and who are
inspired by the three brand values of "strive", "courage" and "dare".
According to Gordon, Chalmers is the personification of this. "Ed's a
very tenacious, committed and hard-working sales professional who takes
enormous pride in his work," Gordon says. "He truly lives the values we
have here at Global."

Chalmers enthuses about how the company has developed since its
creation: "Our people are really important, every one has a voice which
brings the business together and makes people stick with the company."
And although Global Radio is only two years old, his own connection with
its brands goes back much further.

Fresh from a year out teaching English in Madrid, Chalmers, who is
fluent in Spanish, applied for a job as a sales executive at Capital FM
in 1994. He jokes that he expected to turf out its then breakfast DJ
Chris Tarrant within a week but although this didn't turn out to be
entirely accurate, he has worked on its brands in their various
iterations ever since.

"I've stayed in radio because I've always engaged with it," Chalmers
explains. "I love working in a business that's dynamic, fast-moving and
engaging. I like the people I work with and I never get the Sunday night
blues. If you can get up on a Monday and enjoy going to work, why
change?"

Chalmers' loyalty to the company saw him rise up the career ladder to
become the sales director of Global Radio in 2009. It's something that
one of his predecessors says was entirely well-deserved. "Global Radio
would not be the success it is today without Ed," Simon Daglish, the
vice-president commercial director at Fox Interactive and a former sales
director of GCap Media, says. "He took a difficult situation and made it
into a success. He deserves all the credit he can get for his patience,
effort and determination - I am a big fan."

However, Chalmers faces further challenges that will require him to draw
on these resources. Early next year, Global Radio launches the Capital
network, in a bid to emulate the success of its 95.8 station in
London.

Chalmers says the roll-out of Capital to ten further stations will make
the most of a brand with global appeal: "If you look at how well it has
performed over the past few years, it's a platform all the serious
players in the music business want to have a relationship with, which
gives it traction."

The national Capital will give Global Radio a competitor to BBC Radio 1,
alongside its BBC Radio 2-like network Heart and BBC Radio 3-like
Classic FM. "Advertisers want to understand the proposition and network
brands allow them to do that," Chalmers says.

It is difficult to question Chalmers' commitment to the Global business
and with a bigger palette next year, he is likely to do a successful job
of championing it, in particular, and commercial radio as a whole. This
is quietly pleasing news for a medium that has been short of good news
stories for far too long.

THE LOWDOWN
Age: 41
Lives: Putney, London
Family: Wife, Sonsoles, and two kids, Megan and Ana
Car: X3
Favourite song: Rock 'n' Roll Star by Oasis
Favourite media: Capital Radio, XFM and Sky Sports
Best thing about working in media: It never stands still
Most treasured possession: My house keys
Interests outside work: My family, Real Madrid and being heckled for any
Scottish sporting performance

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